Forms: 1 brídel, 3–4 bridel, -il, 3–6 brydel, 4 briddle, brydille, 4–5 bridell, 4–6 brydell, -il, -ill, 5 bridelle, -ill, -ulle, -yl(le, brydylle, 6 brydle, 4– bridle. [OE. brídel for earlier *briʓdel (cf. brigdils Erf. Gl. 127, O. E. Texts 44) has various corresp. forms in WGer.: cf. OFris. bridel, MLG., MDu. breidel (bredel), Du. breidel, OHG., MHG. brittel; formed with instrumental suffix like hand-le, sadd-le, etc., from root of bregd-an to pull, twitch (see BRAID); cf. Ger. zügel from zichen to draw.]
1. The head-gear of the harness of a horse or other beast of burden, consisting of a head-stall, bit, and rein, by which the animal is controlled and guided. To give a horse the bridle: to abandon control of him; so to lay the bridle on his neck. To keep a horse up into his bridle: to keep him up to the full speed allowed by the degree of restraint in which he is held by the bridle. To go up well to his bridle: to be a free goer, not to hang back at the pressure applied.
a. 1000. Rune Poem, xxi. (Gr.). Se brimhengest bridles ne ʓymeð.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 74. Bridel nis nout one iðe horses muðe.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. IV. 20. Hong on him an heui Bridel to bere his hed lowe.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1208. The fomy brydil with the bit of gold Governyth he.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxii. 407. He hilde the reyne of his bridill in his lefte arme.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 160. Whether he sholde haue also the sadell and brydell with the horse.
1601. Bp. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 59. A bridle hath raines and a bit.
1674. Ch. & Court of Rome, 8. It being proverbial, That ’tis a greater shame to bring home the Bridle than steal the Horse.
1882. Illust. Sporting News, 4 Feb., 502/2. Come on at a good canter—not too fast, but keep them well up into their bridles.
1884. E. Anderson, Mod. Horsemanship, I. v. 17. In the double bridle we have the curb bit and the snaffle.
b. Occas. applied to the bit alone; also fig.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 3299. Take with thy teeth the bridel faste.
1579. Fulke, Confut. Sanders, 657. She commaunded his bridle to be made of one nayle.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. xlvii. 222. More eagerly than earst I on the brydell byte.
c. fig. with conscious reference to a horse.
1401. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 85. Who wil not amenden him, Ȝeue him the brydil.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 362. Giving the bridle to a desperate man.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. ii. 8. Gods deliuering of the Children out of the Bondage of Egypt was not to lay the brydle in their necke that they might go when they listed.
1796. Burke, Let. Noble L., 41. Calais the key of France, and the bridle in the mouth of that power.
1833. Wordsw., Warning. O for a bridle bitted with remorse To stop your leaders in their headstrong course.
2. fig. A restraint, curb, check. Mil. A fortress keeping an enemy in check (cf. BRIDLE v. 2 b).
1340. Ayenb., 254. Zete ane brydel to þine couaytises.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, II. xv. (1554), 55 a. Sensualitie Holdeth the bridle of lecherous insolence.
1530. Rastell, Bk. Purgat., III. xv. 4. Man hath nede to have both a brydel of lawe … & also a brydell of the drede of God.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. viii. 1. Dauid … toke the brydell of bondage out of the Philistynes hande.
1624. Bacon, New Atl. (1677), 257. The reverence of a mans self is, next religion, the chiefest Bridle of all Vices.
1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 488. Thy [castles] … were first intended as bridles to their country.
1791. Burke, Th. on Fr. Affairs, Wks. VII. 37. The blind reverence they bear to the sanctity of the Pope, which is their only bridle.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xv. 233. He kept his tongue under a bridle.
3. = BRANKS1 1.
1623. Macclesfield Corp. Rec., in Ormerod, Hist. Cheshire, III. 385. A Brydle for a curste queane.
1658. Worcester Corp. Rec., in Brushfield, Obs. Punishm. (1858), I. 7, note. Paid for mending the bridle for bridleinge of scoulds, and two cords for the same … js. ijd.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., In Staffordshire they have a bridle for correcting scolding women.
1858. Brushfield, Obsol. Punishm., I. 16. Another Bridle … is a very handsome specimen, being surmounted with a decorated cross.
4. The gesture described under BRIDLE v. 3.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), V. xxviii. 287. ‘Miss Howe’ … repeated she, with a scornful bridle, but a very pretty one.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 344. The flirted fan, the bridle, and the toss.
5. Applied technically or descriptively to various things resembling a horse’s bridle in their form or use: esp.
a. Naut. A stout cable, or ‘fast,’ by which a vessel is secured to moorings; also, the short piece of rope by which the bowline is attached to the leech or edge of the sail.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 15. The maine bowling and bridles. Ibid. (1627), Seaman’s Gram., v. 27. The Boling knot is … fastened by the bridles into the creengles of the sailes.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Cc iij b. To this swivel-link are attached the bridles, which are short pieces of cable, well served, whose upper ends are drawn into the ship, at the mooring-ports, and afterwards fastened to the masts, or cable-bits.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 259. We came to and got in the bridle and swivel.
b. Phys. A ligament or membrane serving to check the motion of a part, or bind one part to another; a frænum; ‘a narrow slip of living structure interposed between two orifices or the opposing walls of an abscess; a band stretching across a cicatrix’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); † the septum of the nose (obs.).
1697. Dampier, Voyages (1729), III. I. 351. Pinching the Bridle of the Nose with its points, it hangs dangling from thence.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, I. ii. (1738), 15. An appendage called the Frænum, or Bridle, which runs … almost to the root of the yard.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), Dict. B b 7 b, Frænulum, the Bridle of the Tongue. Ibid., 199. The Cystis Hernialis … was much contracted, forming four or five strong Bridles.
1805. Med. & Phys. Jrnl., 1 Aug., 97. Two cases of children losing their lives in consequence of cutting what is called the bridle of the tongue.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 603/2. Those bridles which are such frequent causes of deformity after the healing of extensive burns.
c. Mech. A metal strip or band uniting two parts of a machine, or limiting their motion; also, the flanges that keep a slide-valve in position.
1667. Wilmslow Churchw. Acc., in Earwaker, E. Cheshire, I. 115. Paid for the bridle of the clocke, and several other things about the clock and quarters.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metals, II. 302. The massy cast-iron frames are fastened with screws and also with wrought iron bridles.
1846. Print. Apparatus Amateurs, 10. The pressure is applied to the front of the press by a lever, which is jointed to the upper extremity by a long bridle.
d. Agric. A bent piece of iron on the end of a plough-beam, to which the draught-tackle is attached; a clevis.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVIII. 275/1. The end of this iron, which is called a bridle, has several projecting hooks … on which an iron ring is hung at different heights.
e. The cord or other work that strengthens or tightens the sides of a net.
c. 1838. C. Bathurst, Nets, 34. If it be too large, the bridle would, instead of forming a straight line along the sides of the net, hang down loosely in loops.
f. Fire-arms. A small plate of metal in the interior of a gunlock, which holds the sear and tumbler in position.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 100. Bridle [of musket] … 0s. 9d.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 383. The lock, inside … showing all the parts … d, the tumbler; e, the bridle.
6. Comb., as bridle-maker; also bridle-arm (cf. bridle-hand); bridle-bridge, a bridge fit for the passage of a horse, but not for vehicles; bridle-cable (see quot.); bridle-chain (Mining), one of the ‘safety-chains to support a cage if the link between the cage and rope should break’ (Raymond, Mining Gloss.); † bridle-cull (Thieves’ cant), a highwayman; bridle-cutter, a bridle-maker; bridle-gate, a gate leading into a bridle-path; bridle-hand, the hand that holds the bridle in riding, the left hand; bridle-path, -road, -way, a path fit for the passage of a horse, but not of vehicles; bridle-pin, the pin that helps to secure the bridle of a gunlock; bridle-port, a port or port-hole in a ship’s bow through which ‘bridles’ (see 5) may be run, or chase-guns fired. Also BRIDLE-BIT, -REIN.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 116. Resting the blade upon the *bridle-arm.
1882. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, IX. 446. The approach to the Castle … has been from a curious old *bridle-bridge.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 139, note. When a vessel is moored by laying down a cable upon the ground, with an anchor at each end, then another cable attached to the middle of the ground cable, is called the *Bridle Cable.
1743. Fielding, J. Wild, I. v. (D.). A booty of £10 looks as great in the eye of a *bridle-cull … as that of as many thousands to the statesman.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3081/3. *Bridle-Cutters … and all other Makers, Dressers, or Workers in Leather. Ibid. (1720), No. 5912/4. John Rest … Bridle-Cutter.
1868. ‘Holme Lee,’ Bas. Godfrey, lxvii. 395. The horses … stopped at a *bridle-gate.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, II. (1590), 122 (R.). In the turning one might perceiue the *bridle-hand somthing gently stir.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 39. To govern his horse by the aid of his legs and bridle-hand.
1855. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, v. 27. Remember to … keep your bridle hand low.
1652. Wadsworth, trans. Sandoval’s Civ. Wars Spain, 139. One Calahorra, and with him a *Bridle-maker.
1876. Grote, Eth. Fragm., v. 136. The end of the bridle-maker is subservient to that of the horseman.
1811. Nat. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 470/2. The only roads … are narrow *bridle-paths winding through the recesses of the mountains.
1881. Greener, Gun, 263. Unscrew the *bridle-pins and remove the bridle.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xlvii. Two-and-twenty guns besides her *bridle-ports.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. p. xxvii. Rocks, which are seen to the left of a small *bridle-road.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 53. The bridle roads across the mountains … are quite enough for camels and mules.
1760. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 67/1. Was finally determined … the cause … concerning the legality of a carriage and *bridle way through the park.
